(11- 27-17) I constantly receive emails from parents frustrated because they were unable to get their adult children hospitalized. Here’s one from a mother who ran into the opposite problem recently when she sought help from a psychiatrist who works for Kaiser Permanente.)

Dear Pete, 

 My adult daughter experienced a traumatic event at college. Her grades began slipping, she started losing weight, she had trouble sleeping and she was on the edge of tears or crying continuously. She told us that she had suicidal thoughts but that she did not think she would act on them.

As you can imagine, we were very concerned. We took her to see a psychiatrist at Kaiser Permanente, believing we would get help.

What happened was a nightmare!

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(11-24-17) This is one of the best stories about homelessness that I’ve read. Thank you Laurie McGinley at The Washington Post for writing it. Among the take-aways: most of these folks had been through recovery programs yet have not become engaged in treatment? Why?

Another take-away: a homeless woman who has been diagnosed with a serious mental illness agreed to see a psychiatrist when she spoke to a treatment team but disappeared when a psychiatrist came looking for her. She preferred to continue “self medication.”

And finally, the quote: “Most of our folks think they will die alone, that their future is canceled. Bringing hope is more important than any medicine.”  It’s a great reminder that it takes a personal connection to connect in a meaningful way with another person.

These are all truths that I learned personally when I spent time with homeless workers in Washington D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood with Gunther Stern, who runs Georgetown Ministries street outreach team.

In the woods and the shadows, street medicine treats the nation’s homeless

By Laurie McGinley, published in The Washington Post on Thanksgiving Day.

Nurse Laura LaCroix was meeting with one of her many homeless patients in a downtown Dunkin’ Donuts when he mentioned that a buddy was lying in agony in the nearby woods.

“You should check on him,” said Pappy, as the older man is known. “But don’t worry, I put him on a tarp, so if he dies, you can just roll him into a hole.”

LaCroix called her boss, Brett Feldman, a physician assistant who heads the “street medicine” program at Lehigh Valley Health Network. He rushed out of a meeting, and together the two hiked into the woods. They found Jeff Gibson in a fetal position, vomiting green bile and crying out in pain from being punched in the stomach by another man days earlier.

Feldman told him he had to go to the hospital.

“Maybe tomorrow,” Gibson replied.

“Tomorrow you’ll be dead,” Feldman responded.

Months later, the 43-year-old Gibson is still in the woods, but this time showing off the six-inch scar — for a perforated intestine and peritonitis — that is evidence of surgical intervention. He greets Feldman warmly. “You’re the only person who could have gotten me to the hospital,” he says. “You’re the only person I trust.”

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(11-22-17)  Giving a meal to someone on Thanksgiving who is homeless feeds them for one day. Giving them housing puts them on a life changing path.  Patti and I make a donation each month to the Corporation for Supportive Housing  because we believe it offers communities proven solutions for ending homelessness – and homelessness in the wealthiest nation in the world should be unacceptable.

564,708 people in the U.S. are homeless.

According to a recent report, over half a million people were living on the streets, in cars, in homeless shelters, or in subsidized transitional housing during a one-night national survey last January. Of that number, 206,286 were people in families, 358,422 were individuals, and a quarter of the entire group were children.

83,170 individuals, or 15% of the homeless population, are considered “chronically homeless.”

Chronic homelessness is defined as an individual who has a disability and has experienced homelessness for a year or longer, or and individual who has a disability and has experienced at least four episodes of homelessness in the last three years (must be a cumulative of 12 months).

Families with at least one adult member who meets that description are also considered chronically homeless.  As the National Alliance to End Homelessness explains, “While people experiencing chronic homelessness make up a small number of the overall homeless population, they are among the most vulnerable. They tend to have high rates of behavioral health problems, including severe mental illness and substance use disorders; conditions that may be exacerbated by physical illness, injury, or trauma.”

47,725, or about 8% of the homeless population, are veterans.

This represents a 35% decrease since 2009. Homeless veterans have served in several different conflicts from WWII to the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Washington, D.C., has the highest rate of veteran homelessness in the nation (145.8 homeless veterans per 10,000). 45% of homeless veterans are black or Hispanic. While less than 10% of homeless veterans are women, that number is rising.

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(11-20-17) I met Mark Tanner briefly while visiting a federal prisoner whose life story I told in my book The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison, and was intrigued when Tanner later told me that he had penned a memoir that he soon hopes to get published. Tanner describes what happens in prisons, in this instance, an actual case that dealt with a prisoner with a serious mental illness. I hope he finds a publisher soon. Until then you can read more of his work at his website.

A Mental Health Case in Prison

Excerpt from upcoming book by Mark Tanner entitled Sallyport Life: Stories from Inside America’s Federal Prison and Parole Systems.

Tyrone Kelley 02567-135

I first met inmate Tyrone Kelley when he kicked me in the head while in the Special Housing Unit (SHU) at Allenwood Federal Prison.

He was being escorted by another staff member to the indoor recreation area when he broke away from the officer’s grasp and tried to head-butt him. I happened to be down range when I heard the commotion and ran toward them. The officer was struggling to get Kelley under control and they both fell to the floor. As I got there, Kelley was kicking his legs so I tried to grab them to help restrain him. Well, I missed one leg and he kicked me in the head. After a struggle, we finally got him under control, placed leg-irons on him then placed him in a holding cell.  I had a nice headache for a while but nothing serious.

Kelley was an interesting case. He had severe mental health problems but when he was on his medications, he was reasonable. Kelley was from Kansas City, Missouri and began his criminal life at age 14. It started with truancy in 1964 and by the end of the year, he was arrested for possession of a handgun and a butcher knife. The courts ordered a term of probation and attendance in school. By May of 1965, he committed an armed robbery and was committed to the State Training School for Boys in Bonneville, Missouri. Kelley was paroled on 3/1/66 but was returned to custody seven months later as a parole violator. He was paroled a second time from the juvenile conviction on 7/25/67 at age 17.

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(11-15-17) Perhaps it would be fitting for Corporal George Merkel’s sentence to include a week of living homeless on the streets. According to an earlier NBC story, “Crisis Intervention Team training is mandatory for new recruits with Prince George’s County police… (and) all officers have received a CIT refresher as part of their yearly in-service training.” Where was he when class was in session?

By Drew Gerber  The Washington Post

A Prince George’s County police officer was found guilty Tuesday of assault and official misconduct for pulling a homeless woman by her ears and slapping her to roust her from sleeping in the doorway of a store.

George Merkel, a corporal with about 15 years in the department, was convicted during a two-day bench trial before Prince George’s County Circuit Judge Dwight D. Jackson.  Merkel’s attorney, Robert C. Bonsib, declined to comment on the verdict. Merkel was placed on administrative leave after the Sept. 22, 2016, incident.In what he called “a difficult case,” Jackson said his verdict was guided by two events he deemed “somewhat extraordinary”: that Merkel’s actions so bothered fellow officers they reported them to supervisors, and that the homeless woman, while incoherent, had her “sensibilities offended,” according to her testimony.Events began about 1 a.m. that morning when Merkel was on patrol and encountered the sleeping woman in front of a closed pawnshop in Lanham, attorneys in the case said.

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Vietnam Veteran Nurse Lynda Van Devanter 

(11-13-17) Thank you my good friend, Susan Van Devanter Infeld, for reminding me this Veterans Day weekend about women who serve in our armed forces and the mysterious threads that often bind us together.

While working at The Washington Post in 1981, I read a tiny news item about Susan’s sister, Lynda Van Devanter, talking about her experiences as a nurse in Vietnam during the war. Eager to learn more, I interviewed Lynda and the resulting front page story turned out to be one of the first major news pieces about the role that nurses played in Vietnam.

Lynda spoke eloquently about post traumatic stress disorder, as well as, the harmful side effects of the herbicide Agent Orange. Equally important, her candor woke up our nation to the capabilities of American servicewoman, including skills that were being largely ignored at a time because of limited opportunities for women in the military.

Not only did Lynda’s interview have national impact, it also helped change the direction of my career and life.

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